MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Why Are Store Ceilings So High?
Ever wondered why, despite most of their items being stocked on shelves that aren’t much over 6 feet high, many supermarkets & other stores’ ceilings are so high? As in, dozens of feet high. In stores like Sam’s Club or Costco, it makes sense, they stock their bulk inventory to the rafters. But why do smaller stores seem to need so much open space above our heads?
Like most retail design choices, it’s meant to get us, the shoppers, in a place where we’re comfortable spending the largest amount of money possible. And ceiling height actually impacts how we process our buying decisions.
According to the vice president of store design for Target, Joe Perdew, “There’s a universal design principle that you want to expand ceiling heights when you want people to make holistic decisions & you actually contract them a bit, or shrink them, when you want people to make detailed decisions.”
In retail, lots of products require imagination, like how a sofa might look in your living room or what kinds of recipes you might make with that particular cut of beef. High ceilings not only open us up physically, but psychologically, as well. They tend to make us think in more abstract terms, while lower ceilings can have us thinking more about details.
In other words, a high ceiling appears to get customers thinking…just not too much.
Practically, though, tall ceilings can allow for signs directing shoppers to explore other areas of the store. They can also help obscure security cameras that can be mounted high enough to have a wider field of view without making shoppers feel watched.
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House of the Week 1/14/22
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: The Difference Between Cold Brew & Iced Coffee
There are two main ways to take your coffee: hot & cold. But if you prefer your coffee chilled, there are two main ways to consume coffee cold: iced coffee & cold brew. So, what’s the difference?
Iced coffee & cold brew often get lumped together, but there are some pretty big differences in how they’re made which affect both their taste & their cost. While they may be made from the same ingredients (basically just water & ground coffee beans), they aren’t prepared the same way. Iced coffee starts out as regular coffee, with ground beans being brewed in hot water, before the coffee gets poured over ice & served chilled. Simple as that!
Cold brew is bit more labor-intensive, which is probably why it’s preferred by coffee connoisseurs. As the name might suggest, you make cold brew by brewing coffee in cold water (as opposed to piping hot H2O). That lack of heat creates lower acidity, resulting in a smoother, sweeter taste. Coffee also infuses into cold water more slowly than it does hot water, which is why cold brew takes at least 12 hours to make. The ratio of coffee to water also has to be higher (1:5 in cold brew vs. about 1:16 in hot coffee). Cold brew is also considered higher quality, since the gentle & slow brewing process produces a more mellow, less acidic taste while also yielding a stronger caffeine concentration. And because of all this, cold brew ends up being more expensive than iced coffee.
Both iced coffee & cold brew are both more widely available during the warmer months, and which one you should order depends on your coffee budget and preference. Until things warm up, though, I think we can all agree that we should just stick to warming ourselves up with a nice, hot cup of joe (like the WFRE Country Roads blend from Dublin Roasters).
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Wake Up Crew Highlights: January 13, 2022
MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Tapping A Shot Glass On A Bar
Whenever you’re drinking with friends, you may find yourself clinking all your glasses together before you all knock back some shots, sort of like a receptacle version of a high-five. And that’s pretty much the most popular theory behind the how that tradition originated. Because, while in ancient times people would just pass around a single cup to share, when that got phased out in favor of separate glass tapping all the different cups together maintained the same sense of camaraderie. Similarly, why do folks often tap their glasses on a bar or table before drinking from a shot glass?
It’s not clear exactly when, where, or why this began. But there are a few common reasons behind the practice most drinkers will believe. One is that, back in ancient times, drinkers would sometimes pour a portion of their beverage onto the ground to pay tribute to deceased friends who might otherwise have been drinking there with them at that time. Thus, many folks consider tapping your glass on the bar as a modern-day form of doing the same thing, albeit in a less wasteful fashion.
The other likely reason for the shot glass tap is that it may just be a sign of respect to the bartender, waiter/waitress, or watering hole overall. Because, while the toast is for your buddies, and the drink itself is for you, it would make sense to throw in a small tip-of-the-cap to those that made it all possible. There’s also an old Irish superstition wherein tapping your glass on the table rids your drink of evil spirits.
Whatever your reasoning, the bartender wherever you may be will certainly appreciate a tap on the bar more so than your drink poured over the floor.
Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadio), or send an email to [email protected].